Amid the current uproar of the COVID-19 pandemic in Russia, vaccinating the young people against the deadly virus will not be proved an efficacious solution as the country should have to ramp up the immunization drive when the new strain of novel coronavirus called Omicron just emerged, suggested by infectious disease doctor Evengy Timakov on Sunday, January 23, 2022.
While speaking about the mass vaccination,” expert emphasized,” It would be far much better if the drive of immunization among the young people put into service in autumn, the time when the cases of Delta increased and Omicron just outbreak. The reason behind this is that the Omicron variant is surging, and in fact, in schools, children have already been exposed to the Omicron”. He further noted,” now, the vaccine takes around a month and a half to develop the immunity, and it will be proved to be very efficient against the Omicron variant”.
Primakov also pointed out the uproar of COVID-19 virus among the children and cited,” The infection due to the novel coronavirus is very contagious as one person could have the ability to infect about ten people, which means that one child who exposed to the viral infection could transmit the infection among the whole class, which is possible. So, the scenario shows that due to the surge of contagious mutant among children, they are falling ill, and the hospitals in Russia are getting filled with children”.
Further, the founder and CEO of the DNKOM Research Centre of Molecular Genetic Studies, Andrey Isaev, asserted that the schools should come out to the online mode in the wake of the safety of the children.
He further urged, “Children are getting exposed to the Omicron variant and even it is becoming surge in the kindergartens and schools, and it proves as the main links of the epidemiological chain. Consequently, I firmly feel that the country should follow the Chelyabinsk Region’s example and go to remote learning. As a father, I understand that the situation negatively affects the students and their minds and the quality of education. But now there is no choice, and we have to do this”.
Earlier, On November 24, 2021, the Health Ministry of Russia approved the Sputnik M vaccine against the COVID-19 pandemic for people who were aged from 12 to 17, and the vaccine consists of two components. Immunization of children under the age of 15 which requires parental consent; on the other hand, the young people who were aged over 15 could decide for themselves.